Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's dirty little secret

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) has a dirty little secret. They don't want campaign finance reform.

Oh they say they do but how else can you explain their behavior of rewarding politicians that lie to them and work directly against campaign finance reform?

For example, take Rep. Steve Freese. He answered the candidate questionnaire provided by WDC and he said "yes" to the first question that asks:

YES OR NO: Do you support and would you vote for bipartisan legislation (similar to 2005-2006 Senate Bill 1) to strengthen enforcement of Wisconsin's ethics code and campaign finance laws by replacing the current State Elections and State Ethics Boards with a nonpartisan and politically independent Government Accountability Board with an enforcement division with the authority and resources to investigate and prosecute violations of state elections, ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws and regulations?

Freese answered "yes" even though he shouldn't have even been allowed to answer the question at all after his behavior regarding that bill this session. Freese is not only part of the Assembly Leadership that at first decided behind closed doors to prohibit the bill from coming to the floor, he voted "no" when he had a chance to vote outside of his leadership circle.

If WDC is serious about campaign finance reform, why would they allow people like Freese to make a mockery of them time and time again? If a citizen in Freese's district were to go to the WDC website to see if Freese supports SB 1, they would come away thinking Freese does even though he had more to do with sinking the bill than most of the other assemblypeople.

This is not the first time Freese has sunk reform either. This is from a 2003 WDC press release:

Few lawmakers have gone to greater lengths to wrap themselves in the cloak of reform than Steve Freese. But while his words are reminiscent of John McCain, his record on reform resembles Tom DeLay's.

As chairman of the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee, Representative Freese is a key gatekeeper on campaign finance reform legislation. He has kept the gate locked. While quickly shepherding photo ID legislation making it harder to vote to the floor of the Assembly early this session, he has taken no steps to develop comprehensive campaign finance reform legislation in his committee for eight months.

It goes on to say:

Comprehensive reform legislation was introduced and referred to his committee in March 2001. For over 11 months, he did not permit his committee to vote on any comprehensive reform proposals. Once it was clear the Senate was taking action on reform legislation, Freese pledged to work in his committee to develop a bipartisan reform package. With considerable fanfare, a bipartisan working group was assembled under Freese's direction. The working group was a charade.

So why does the WDC allow Freese to look like he supports their cause every year at election time by answering "yes" to all of their questions, while working to stop campaign finance reform?